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2.2.1 Marxist Theory
Marxism is known as the school of thought of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels about the inequality in the society which covers the economic terms
between the company or land owner and workers. According to Peter Barry, the aim of Marxism is to make the classless society, based on the common ownership
of the means of production, distribution and exchange 2002, p 156. Thus, according to Marxist theory a fair society is society where there is equality and
fair treatment from the employers towards employee. The position of someone in society is also determined by their social class.
Social class is a grouping of people based on their occupation and position in society. D Stanley Eitzen and Maxine Baca Zinn 1991 stated that social class
is a complex concept that centers on the distribution on the economic resources 1991, p 231. It means that the social class is based on how much money that
one’s had in society also determines the society treatment towards somebody. Marx argues that all mental ideological systems are the products of real
society and real economic existence. The material interests of the dominant social class determine how people see human existence, individual and
collectives Shelden and Widdowson, 1993, p 71.
From the excerpt above we can see that the social status has a certain role in determining someone’s position in society. The power in society is held by the
upper class and upper middle class who have a lot of money so that they can get the privilege. Furthermore Ralf Dahrendorf in Giddens mention;
Classes are constituted by the relationship of groupings of individuals to the ownership of private property in the means of production. This yields a
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model of class relations which is basically dichotomous; all class societies are built around a primary line of division between two antagonistic
classes, one dominant and the other subordinate. 1994, p 37
The excerpt means that the social class appears because there is a difference income and property which one has. Besides, the division of social class is
separated into four groups groups, the upper class which contains of aristocrat and the wealthy people, the upper middle class who has a lot of money or own a
company, lower middle class and the lower class consisting of little merchant, workers and poor people. Thus, the upper class and upper middle class that is
wealthy and has power in society is known as the dominant one and then the lower middle class and lower class containing of workers who works for the upper
class is known as the subordinate one because they are dependent on the upper class. Thus, their dominancy among the society becomes obvious either in
economic and political aspects. Royle mentions; Instead of multiplicity of status groups within the social hierarchy, bonded
together by community, deference and paternalism, horizontal cases to and control over economic resources, in conflict with one another about the
distribution not only of economic but also of political, social and ideological power. 1987, p 83
They exercise their power on the lower class and it makes the lower class suffer because their actions in society are restricted to the rule of upper class. In
economic aspects we can see their dominancy towards the lower class or working class as the oppressed party; they work very hard for the landowners and
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employers of company and only get low wages which is not enough to meet their ends since the upper class only thinking about their own profit. As Barry stated;
…workers are bereft of their full humanity, and are thought of as ‘hands’ or ‘the labour force’, so that, for instance, the effects of industrial closures
are calculated in purely economic terms. People, in a word, become things 2002, p 157.
It implies that the employees are only tools for the employers to get a lot of profit for their own benefit and make their company succeed. Besides, the workers do
not get fair payments for their work and dedication in developing the company. In class society, the upper class is become the oppressor and the lower class is the
oppressed as mentioned by Shelden and Widdowson 1993 Marx was arguing that what we call ‘culture’ is not an independent reality
but is inseparable from the historical conditions in which human being create their material lives, the relations of exploitation and domination
which govern the social and economic order of a particular phase of
human history will in some sense ‘determined’ the whole cultural life of the society 1993, p 71.
Moreover, Giddens 1994 also stated that Any and every ‘economic’ phenomenon is at the same time always a
social phenomenon, and the existence of a particular kind of ’economy’ presupposes a definite kind of society 1994, p 10
From both statements we can draw the conclusion that the relation between the domination and exploitation of the upper class towards the lower class has a
certain role in shaping the society and developing the socio economic history. The domination of upper class in society is not only in economic field but also in the
political field where they also controlled the society as the government. Giddens
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1994, p 6 stated that the ownership of property still largely determines political power. It implies that the power of governments is determined by those who have
a lot of money. The domination of upper class in society makes the lower class demand
for changing because the power of upper class harmful for them. The lower class makes some movement in society by collecting people from their class to revolt
the rule in society which is controlled by the upper class. The aim of revolution is to get their rights and fair treatment from the government and upper class. It is as
form of their disappointments toward the government’s policy. Giddens mentions that the class engaging in a revolutionary struggle for power fights in the name of
absolute human rights, presenting its ideas as ‘the only rational, universally valid ones’ 1994, p 44. It implies that the appearance of revolution is in order to get
the fair treatment. It concludes that Marxism sees the problem happened in society; the
struggles among the people in class society economical and political terms. As mentioned by Barry;
Marxism sees progress as coming about through the struggle for power between different social classes. This view of history as
class struggles rather than as, for instance, a succession of dynasties, or as a gradual progress towards the attainment of
national identity and sovereignty regards it as ‘motored’ by the competition for economic, social, and political advantage. 2002,
p 157
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The people from all the social class wants to reach the higher position in society in order to get power and wealth and to reach such position they used all their effort
to accomplish their ambition to reach the higher position in society.
2.3 Literature and History
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